


Waking up

by Fanfic_CJ



Series: Awakening [1]
Category: Cat's Eye (Anime & Manga), Noir (Anime)
Genre: F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23352637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanfic_CJ/pseuds/Fanfic_CJ
Summary: Hitomi runs into Noir as she flees a heist scene. Their interest in her leads to Hitomi’s sexual awakening, which in turn leads her to run into Ran at a club. Things start to get chaotic (or rather, more chaotic then usual) afterwards.My muse decided to skip to Hitomi and Ran, I was just getting back on track and then Hitomi derailed chapter 5. I should have seen that coming.
Relationships: Kisugu Hitomi/Noir, Mireille Bouquet/Yumura Kirika
Series: Awakening [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084907
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4





	1. Of women with guns

**Author's Note:**

> Hitomi’s reaction to the girl and Asaya having a crush on her in episode #33 of season 2 was sooo annoying. 
> 
> Note: In the German dub, the names differ from the English dub and the original: Hitomi’s sisters are called Nami (Rui) and Love (Ai), Hitomi’s gaslighted boyfriend is called Toshi (Toshio), his female colleague Asaya (Asatani). Because it seems strange to use “Love” as a given name in English, I’ll use Ai, but will go with the German dub names in all other cases.

Hitomi was annoyed with her sisters. They kept bringing up the crush sub-inspector Asaya had on the male persona she had used to scout out their last heist. AND that horrible classmate of Ai! It wasn’t funny. “Don’t pick up any more female fans!” Ai called after her in a sing-song voice as she left. Hitomi fumed.

At the heist, Toshi wondered why the cat moved a bit faster and more forceful than usual. She actually hit him from behind with enough force to throw him into a wall, jumped over him and then was out of the window before he could recover. This time, he had placed his people in a broad perimeter around the gallery, so he hoped he could catch her before she reached her escape vehicle.

Hitomi cursed under her breath when it became clear that all direct ways to her Porsche were blocked. Those guys were starting to learn some discipline. She scaled the 2,5 wall at the back of the gallery, ran through a garden barely missing the duck pond, up a tree and over the barbed wire top of the next wall. A jump, a backflip and she paused on a large branch to listen to her pursuers. And froze when the barrel of a gun touched the nape of her neck. “Hands on our back. Don’t move!” The voice was low. “Now what is a beautiful lady like you doing here?” it purred. Hitomi considered her options. She had no chance to escape a bullet from this position. But it seemed unlikely the person at her back wanted to meet the police. “Escaping from the police,” she replied in a whisper. “A minute max till they start to search the gardens in this direction.” The pressure of the gun increased. The person behind her whispered something too low for her to hear. Then she heard another voice “I told you to not pick up new toys while we work.” That voice was distinctly female, with a hint of a foreign accent, and mocking. “How could I resist?” the first voice said in a serious tone. “Just look at her.” That voice sounded female, too??? Hitomi growled. “What is it with women ogling me lately?” she murmured. A subdued snort was her only answer. “You are lucky. Now slowly raise your hands, grab the branch above you, and step forward.” The barrel left her neck the moment she was hanging from that branch. “Don’t get caught,” the voice mocked. When she whipped her head around, she only caught a glimpse of a young woman with dark short hair vanishing into the next tree. Some alarm sounded in the house next door and Hitomi hurried to get out of there. She abandoned her Porsche for that night and picked up the bike Ai had insisted on placing at the next block, in case of trouble.

The next morning, the headline wasn’t their heist, but the suicide of a well known member of parliament, rumors about whose rather unsavory ways to make money never had been proven. The garden where she was greeted with the barrel of a gun must have been his garden, Hitomi realized.

She took her midday break out on a park bench in the sun, her coffee and bento next to her. Suddenly she heard a voice from behind. “They do say cats love the sun.” Her shoulders were pressed down as a pair of arms with a body’s weight leaning down on them enfolded her. Hitomi froze. She remembered that voice. The hands crossed on her chest were fine-boned, slim and calloused. “I have a proposition for you,” the voice continued, “or rather two.” One of the hands folded back behind Hitomi’s head, slowly stroking a strand of hair behind her ears. Hitomi forced herself to breath out. “I’m listening.” she said, straining to hear if anyone else was near. Nothing. A proposition. If the stranger had wanted to kill her, she’d already be dead, in this position, it would be far too easy to break her neck.

“A weekend to have fun, and a little help to scout out a location. In Yokohama.” A thumb stroking up Hitomi’s neck made her shiver.

“What?!?” her voice was an octave higher than normal. “You are propositioning me?”

A silence fell. After a long moment stretched with only birdcalls and the sound of a car passing on the street, the voice continued: “Maybe I misunderstood yesterday? You did mention women ogling you.” Hitomi sighed. “I dressed up as a man. And it’s just that damn inspector who is out to get m… Cat’s Eye,” she corrected herself at the last moment, “and that annoying brat of a classmate of my sister.” The hand that was stroking her hair stopped. “My sisters keep teasing me about it.”

“Ah,” says the voice from behind her. The stroking resumed. “I can’t really imagine that no women looks at you when you are yourself.” Hitomi could hear a smile in her voice. She found herself leaning into the caress. The fingers started slow circles at the base of her skull. It felt incredible.  
“So you just never thought about it before?” “No,” Hitomi answered slowly. “There was always Toshi, practically since elementary school.” She nodded towards the police headquarters, where Toshi just stumbled over the bottom step. “Obviously,” the voice behind her said in a dry tone. A finger wandered down Hitomi’s neck, making her hairs stand and a blush creep up to her ears. “The location we want to scout is rumored to have ‘Begging’ by Heinz on display. Think about it.” The pressure on her shoulders disappeared. When Hitomi turned her head, there was no one in sight.

Hitomi only went back into the café after Toshi left. She felt too confused to meet him. Nami raised an eyebrow at her as she came in. A women with blonde hair was sitting at one of the window tables. Hitomi absentmindedly threw her a greeting. When she caught herself thinking that this European looked gorgeous, she paused. “Hitomi?” Nami asks. Hitomi threw her hair back, laughed and said: “Sorry, the day is a bit weird.” Nami poured her some coffee. Hitomi sat at the bar, looking thoughtful, then confused, then thoughtful again. Nami was just wondering what was going on when the blonde asked in French: “Could you recommend something to eat s’il vous plait?” Nami answered in the same language, suggesting several Japanese options, sandwiches, and added: “Oh, my sister could make you a Croque Monsieur.“ Hitomi looked up at this. The French woman thanked both of them effusively, smiling. Her dark blue eyes looked deep into Hitomi’s. Hitomi smiled back and went off to the kitchen to create it.

In the evening, after they closed up, Hitomi sank down on the couch in their living room. Ai was already in her room, having an early exam the next day. Nami brought two beers from the kitchen and offered one to Hitomi. “So, little sister, what has been bothering you all day?” Hitomi took the beer and looked away. “Can’t I just be grumpy?”, she said defensively. Nami grinned. “Usually, if you are grumpy, it’s Toshi’s fault. Today is different.” Hitomi began peeling the label of her beer, her long fingers moving, scraping, smoothing. “Do you know anything about father’s painting ‘Begging’?” she inquired. “Begging?” Nami replied in an astonished voice. “It was listed as a request work. The description was something like ‘woman on her knees, hands stretched out’. … It was never part of his collection. Why?”

Hitomi looked down at her beer bottle. “I got propositioned today.” Her voice was low. Nami raised both eyebrows and leaned forward. “A long weekend in Yokohama ending with scouting out a location where this painting is supposed to be.” Hitomi drank some beer to hide her discomfort. Nami whistled. Hitomi blushed. “Who, how, why?” Nami asked.

“Why? - I don’t have a clue.” Hitomi shook her head. “How they found me? Must have followed me home last night.”

Nami nodded. “The women you ran into last night. Who had a gun.” Hitomi nodded. “Whom you met in the garden of a just-that-moment-decease sleazeball.” Hitomi nodded again. “And they want to spend a whole weekend with you?” Nami’s voice sounded far to calm for the absurd situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Fixed some typos.


	2. Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hitomi is intrigued and Toshi is his usual self.

The next day, the gorgeous blonde showed up again at the café shortly before noon. She gave Hitomi a dazzling smile. Her French greeting went over Hitomi’s head, but Hitomi smiled back at her anyway. With lots of gesturing and a few English words, they managed to communicate. Hitomi served a café au lait from their best roast, and another Croque Monsieur. All the time, the stranger’s eyes were looking deeply into Hitomi’s at every opportunity. When Nami came to take over, she couldn’t suppress a smile. _‘I wonder, if Hitomi knows she is flirting?’_ she thought to herself. While Hitomi left reluctantly with her bento and a large coffee - black, no sugar – Nami chatted easily with their French guest.

The bento was eaten and nothing had happened. Hitomi wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or not. With a sight, she sipped the last of her coffee. This was all so confusing. Without any warning, there was the weight on her shoulders again, a pair of finely boned hands crossed over her collarbone. Exhaling sharply, she murmured: “How do you manage to be this quiet?” “20 years of practice, give or take.” the voice answered. “If you keep going, you’ll be as good.” Hitomi filed the confusing 20 years away for thinking about them later. “That sounds like a compliment,” she quipped.

The voice chuckled. A thumb started stroking softly over the place where her shoulder muscle met her collarbone. As she took a deep breath, the heel of that hand touched her breast. She suppressed a shudder but felt herself blushing. “Have you thought about our … proposition?” the voice gave the word a sultry inflection. “I’m intrigued,” Hitomi confessed after a moment. “Oh?” the voice whispered in her ear. This time, Hitomi shuddered. And cursed under her breath. Soft lips touched the tip of her ear. “Not fair!” Hitomi protested. She felt the lips grin. “How can it be safe for all of us?” she asked after a moment. The thumb over her collarbone kept up its stroking. “I promise we are just after your virtue and cooperation.” the voice murmured. Hitomi laughed at that. “Just after my virtue, is it?” “You are a most beautiful woman,” was the earnest reply. A pause. “You are right, we don’t want to advertise our location. Or …” “Your faces.” Hitomi finished the sentence. Another pause. “You know, I don’t know how to make this sound reassuring, but …,“ the voice began. “It would be a most elaborate scheme,“ the voice broke off. “You could have taken me out already, if that is what you wanted.“ Hitomi murmured at the same time. Lips brushed over her hair. Hitomi reached up to touch the hand on her breast. The touch felt electric. After a moment, Hitomi said: “There were some sleazy guys who tried to capture N… one of the cats as their personal sex slave.” Was this a growl behind her, Hitomi wondered. “Considering the press, it seems like a really bad idea to mess with them that way,” the voice said. Hitomi wasn’t sure about the inflection and stiffened. “Sorry,” the voice said, “People enslaving women are on the top three of my hate list.” Hitomi though about the politician who died two nights ago and relaxed a little. “One could even think the cats destroyed a whole island because they were annoyed with someone,” the voice continued, sounding … satisfied. Hitomi snorted. “That was just a blackmailer. He wanted … the cats to steal the weapon that destroyed his island.” The voice chuckled. _'Definitely satisfied,'_ Hitomi thought. She stroked the hand on her shoulder with her thumb. Then she shuddered - it had been a near thing. “I’m glad you made it,” the voice told her in a serious tone. Hitomi let herself relax and leaned into the presence at her back. There was a pause, only the sound of a car passing and two birds who seemed to be thoroughly annoyed.

“I understand that it's not an option for you to be incommunicado for days. If we give you a means to communicate with your sisters at any time, will they promise not to track us?” Hitomi thought about that. The hands on her shoulders didn’t move, waiting. “We’ll have to think about that,” Hitomi answered at last. "Thursday?” She pressed down on the hand below her own. “Who is on the top of the list of people you hate?” she asked. A finger stroked her cheek. A long pause. “The manipulators who play with lives like puppets to bring about the world they dream of.” The voice was nearly toneless. Hitomi couldn’t identify the emotions that ran through her. She gripped that hand below her own and said: “I’m glad you made it.” After a moment, she let go. Soft lips brushed over her hair. “Thursday,” the voice confirmed. And then she was alone again.

“Ma belle, pourquoi si pensive?” The French greeting made Hitomi smile at the blonde even though she didn’t understand a word. Nami tried to hide a laugh though, so she asked “What did she say?” “She just called you ‘my beautiful’,” her sister smirked. Hitomi blushed and the french woman directed a stream of words at Nami that sounded like scolding, though in a playful way. Hitomi shrugged and began to form rice balls for the late afternoon crowd.

When the blonde was deep into her travel guide again, Nami ask: “You do look pensive though, are you going to go to Yokohama this weekend?” while running a cloth over the espresso machine. Hitomi kept dicing salmon. “Crazy as it sounds, yes, I would like to.” The door opened and Toshi walked in, juggling several folders and looking more harried than usual. “Lets talk about that later.”

“Hitomi, a large to go please.” Toshi said without looking at Hitomi. “Hi Nami,” he continued. Looking around, his eyes fell on the blonde and a murmured “Wow” escaped his lips. Nami punched him on the arm. He looked at her, confused for a moment and then looked down. The blonde rolled her eyes: “Imbecile!”

As Hitomi put the coffee on the counter, he looked past Hitomi and said “Hitomi, … I have to cancel our date to the cinema tonight. The boss wants me to go through all these cases and report tomorrow. You are not angry with me, are you?” He fidgeted until Hitomi said. “Its ok, Toshi.” “Great, thanks for the coffee!” he turned and hastily juggled the folders and his coffee out of the door. “And once again, he didn’t even bother to pay.” Nami murmured under her breath. “You going to Yokohama begins to look like a great idea.” To her astonishment, Hitomi grinned. “You bet. Still, we’ll have to talk about it later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it.  
> Give me a line if you find any typos.
> 
> Its strange how knowing only the dub changes how I hear the characters talk in my mind.  
> Edit: Fixed a few typos.


	3. Friday noon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yokohama here we come...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a spoiler for a Cat's Eye episode here. The German episode title and the spoiler together will tell too much, so I won't say which episode.  
> As the show is from 1983, I'll hope you'll forgive me.

On Friday, Hitomi drove her Suzuki to Yokohama. Nami was ahead in the Porsche while Ai did the late shift at the café.

“You can’t leave me to explain to Toshi why we are not here over the weekend,” Ai had complained when her sisters were leaving.

Hitomi had snorted. She didn’t believe he’d notice – as long as he didn’t need her for anything. Hitomi shook her head to get thoughts about him out of her mind. It was fun being out on the bike in the sunshine, for a change. She would be met by the voice – Kirika, she reminded herself – at the InterContinental Yokohama Grand. _“Am I crazy?”_ Hitomi asked herself while she overtook a delivery truck. _“I don’t know anything about those two. Only that they are dangerous – and think I am beautiful.”_ She smiled wryly at herself. _“I want to let her touch me.“_ The tiny ball of excitement in her belly seemed to grow at that though. Hitomi flipped her helmet microphone on. “Nami?”

“Yes, sister mine?” Nami answered.

Hitomi stuck out her tongue, even though Nami couldn’t see it. “Why did you agree to this? Don’t you think it’s even more dangerous usual?”

Nami laughed. “Getting cold feet, are you?” she enquired. “I think you are much safer than you were with Hasebe.”

“The only thing I wanted from him was the key to his safe.” Hitomi growled. “I couldn’t have known he started collecting women instead of art.”

“You underestimated him,” Nami pointed out. “You didn’t trust him but you never thought he was dangerous.” Nami looked in her rearview mirror. Hitomi was catching up to her. As soon as she was behind Nami, she gave her a finger. Nami chuckled. “So you agree?”

Hitomi grumbled. “Are you saying, this is safer because we know the other side is incredibly dangerous?” She wove the bike in its lane to get rid of her nervousness.

“No, this is safer because we know they only target a certain kind of asshole,” Nami replied “Someone seems to do that, are we sure it’s them?“, Hitomi replied. “Mr. Nagashi mentioned mob connections, though.”

“Not recently.” Nami overtook a slow-moving blue Daimler, Hitomi following behind her. “Hitomi, after those talks on the park bench, you looked confused but also more alive than I’ve seen you the whole last year.”

  
  


At the hotel, Nami parked the Suzuki in the underground parking. Nami met her in the lobby with an envelope in her hand: “Here you are.” The envelope held a keycard to room 617. Officially, the sisters were booked into 514. They took the elevator. Hitomi tried to not betray her nervousness, but she still shifted her weight from foot to foot. Nami laughed and hugged her before she got out.

In room 617, Hitomi found the promised suitcase with a combination lock. It opened when she used the combination the voice – Kirika, she reminded herself again, - had given her the day before. On top of some clothing were two satellite phones, the batteries next to them, and a note: _I’m sure you want to check them first. Give one to your sisters and come back here._ Hitomi looked at the phone for a moment. Ai had given them a handful of tools to check on the ‘means of communication’. Against tracking devices – and every explosive she could think of. Looks like this was expected.

When she came back to the room, there was a new note on the clothing: _Please change into this and take the blue Toyota with the Osaka number plate from this room’s parking. Take the road to Isogu. Leave your own mobile and your purse behind. See you soon. K._

Bemused, Hitomi changed into the flared black jeans, the blue-and-white plaid shirt, jeans jacket, boots and baseball cap. “What are you doing?” came Nami’s voice over the earpiece of the satellite phone. “Changing. I’ll leave you a selfie on my mobile.” Hitomi looked at herself in the mirror. “If this wasn’t a bad example for Ai, I might use that outfit more often.” she commented. “Very bishounen.” Nami laughed. 

  
  


Shortly before she reached Isogu, the satellite phone gave a short ring and then the voice, Kirika’s voice, was in her ear, for the moment louder than Nami’s: “Hey, there.” 

“K…” Hitomi stuttered, “how can I hear both you and Nami?”

“Multi-channel phone,” was the dry answer. “She can’t hear me, though.” While Hitomi was digesting this, Kirika continued: “Drive through to the train station and then come back and park in the car park next to Morirokuchome Park. I’ll call when you are there.” And she was gone.

Hitomi gave the details to Nami and concentrated on driving. “Sounds like you will be changing vehicles,” her sister commented. “Hmm.” Hitomi was feeling increasingly nervous:”I hope I’ll meet her there, right now I feel like bolting all the way back home if this game of hide-and-seek continues.” 

Just as Hitomi was parking the car, Nami said “Oh?!”  
“What is it?” Hitomi replied. 

“Mr. Nagashi just sent over a description and a study of ‘Begging’. The pose is very suggestive. I wonder who persuaded father to paint this. Its unusual.” Nami sounded thoughtful. In a dry tone, she continued: “Also, there are rumors about a sex club owning it.”

“Of course!” Hitomi murmured. Kirika’s combined proposition made much more sense now. She sighted. Just as she was thinking about starting up the car again and leaving, the ringtone and Kirika’s voice came again: “You are there!” her voice sounded happy about that. Hitomi considered for the moment to ask her about the sex club. “Would it be ok if I chickened out on the last part of your proposition?” she asked instead. She could hear a sound from Nami she couldn’t quire place. 

From Kirika, first a confused “Hmmm?” came back, than a short laugh, then she said: “You’ve got good intel there. It would be inconvenient, but yes, if you feel like that after we explained, it would be ok. No pressure.” 

Hitomi swallowed and took a deep breath. She wanted to trust in this assurance. Nami would tell her, if she was crazy, right? “Ok,” Hitomi said after a moment. “What happens now?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everybody wound up nicely now?  
> Now, the question is, should I keep to the "Teens and up"-rating or not.


	4. Friday night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hitomi at long last meets Kirika and Mireille.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, the story tried to run of in three different directions. I hope the next updates are about weekly.

Hitomi walked through the parking lot at a brisk pace, passing a closed mobile ramen shop. At Kirika’s signal, Hitomi turned to walk between the parked cars, aiming for a row of vans. A red sedan is parked between a small truck and a van, it’s trunk open and someone rummaging through it. Hitomi walked around the truck and doubled back as instructed, sliding into the backseat of the sedan. She lay down on the seat and waited. The rummaging behind her continued for some time, until she heard a suppressed swearword. Then the trunk was shut with force, someone stomped around to the driver’s seat, threw a blanket onto the backseat and got in.

Over the noise of the starting engine, Hitomi heard Kirika say, “Keep your head down and don’t talk.”

She was glad to recognize the voice. The fleeting glimpse she got before the blanket hit her had been of a rather young and small Japanese woman, which had confused her. Cautiously, Hitomi spread out the blanket to hide under it. Nami confirmed in her ear that she heard everything. The car moved, starting, stopping, obviously there were a lot of traffic lights on the way. Hitomi started to become nervous in the silence, when the stops became less frequent and the car started to move swiftly, swaying with the curves of a winding road.

At last, the car radio was turned on, and Kirika said: „Thanks for coming.” Hitomi though she sounded as if she were smiling. She relaxed a bit. “We’ll have another 20 minutes, but we are out of the city now.”

Hitomi wondered what to say. Another 20 minutes of silence would drive her crazy. “How did you know about Heinz?” she asked at last, not daring to try for banter.

“Oh, come on,” Kirika answered. “Once I took a look at Cat’s eyes records, it stood out a mile.”

Hitomi huffed: “Yeah, I know. Even Toshi noticed once, and the Cats had a hell of work to convince him otherwise.” They both laughed at her exasperation. Hitomi sobered first. “So, if you hadn’t stumbled onto that fact, what would you have done?”

Kirika looked into her rearview mirror but Hitomi was still covered with the blanket. “I might have looked you up anyway.”

This time, Hitomi was sure she was smiling.

“You are both a very beautiful women and an interesting ally.” She hit the turn signal which started to beep at regular intervals.

Hitomi felt herself blush. Toshi had always treated her as if her presence in his life was a given. His compliments were clumsy at best, and mortifying at worst. And here was this dangerous young woman, and her compliments made Hitomi blush, her touch had made her light-headed and happy, and it didn’t make any sense at all. As if to echo her thoughts, she heard Nami snort in her earpiece.

The car stopped so softly, Hitomi needed a moment to realize it. “We’re home,” Kirika announced as she opened the car door. With a quick flick of the wrist, she pulled the blanket off. Hitomi blinked into the light, took a deep breath and sat up. She looked around. The garage looked quite normal. Besides the car, there were two motorbikes, covered with a tarp and … a lawn mower? Kirika watched her, a small smile on her lips. When she offered Hitomi a hand, Hitomi let herself be pulled out of the car.

Hitomi stared into the eyes of the smaller woman. They stood close; hands still clasped. Hitomi searched those brown eyes, looking for … something. She wasn’t even sure what. The eyes crinkled.

“I’m 22,” Kirika said, as if answering a question.

Hitomi cocked her head, her gaze falling to Kirika’s lips. Kirika’s smile widened. Very slowly, Hitomi leaned it and brushed her lips over Kirika’s. Just for a second. Still, she could feel the smile. She flicked her eyes up to the younger woman’s eyes. Got lost in the brown depths. Each kiss lasted longer than the one before. When she opened her mouth and Kirika’s tongue flicked first over her outer lips, then, teasingly brushed just over the line where her lipstick ended, Hitomi started to feel light-headed.

“Hitomi,” Nami’s voice came over the earpiece. “TMI.”

“Sorry,” Hitomi dragged herself back from Kirika, head still swimming. “My sister is getting impatient.”

Kirika licked her lips and laughed ruefully. “Uh. You’d better come up and meet my lover. Then we eat and talk, and you can cue in your esteemed sister afterwards?”

Taking Hitomi’s hand, she led her up the stairs, into a large open-plan kitchen. The view of the hills was so breathtakingly beautiful that Hitomi stopped short. Letting go of her hand, Kirika moved forward into the room. Hitomi dragged her eyes away from the view just in time to see Kirika kiss a suspiciously familiar European woman.

“Meet Mireille,” Kirika said, turning back to Hitomi.

“Enchantée,” the other woman said with a smile. Her blue eyes wandered appraisingly over Hitomi. “I’m glad you decided to come.”

“You had all sides covered, it seems,” Hitomi answered, her tone more annoyed than she wanted to.

The blonde – she was the same height as Hitomi – walked over and took her hand. “I’m sorry about the deception, Hitomi-san,” she said as she took Hitomi’s hand. “As you yourself said, it is difficult to make things safe.” She bowed and kissed Hitomi’s hand in a very formal European gesture. Looking up into Hitomi’s eyes again, her smile became mischievous as she turned Hitomi’s palm up and kissed that, too.

Hitomi struggled for breath as her palm sent a shiver trough her. Her reaction to those two was totally ridiculous, she scolded herself. Kirika walked past her towards the table, carrying a large pot. Somehow, she managed to brush her arm, and Hitomi felt herself react as well. Seeing Mireille’s amusement, Hitomi growled under her breath. Then she laughed.

Kirika brought coffee and small soft cookies. “Let’s talk about business first,” she said. She didn’t take the chair next to Hitomi, where she’d sat during the meal, always teasing. Instead, she sat down on the other side of the table. Mireille also moved her chair away.

Touching her earpiece to allow Nami to listening in, Hitomi asked: “This club you want to take a look at, why do you need me?” Mireille grinned at her and touched her own ear. Hitomi nodded.

Kirika sighted and ran her left hand through her short hair. “As you already found out, it’s a sex club,” she said at last.

Hitomi nodded.

“The very expensive kind, you need an introduction for, and a taste for ..., well, certain kinds of play.” Kirika didn’t quite blush, but looked uneasy while she gestured with her hands.

Hitomi sighted. “Your telling me this is a BDSM club?”

Kirika looked away and Mireille laughed. “Oui.”

“And you need me because?” Hitomi insisted.

Mireille made a face. “To present my credentials. I need a slave and …”

“… I’d rather have Kirika as backup outside,” and “I’m too easily recognizable when naked,” both said at the same time.

Hitomi growled. “I haven’t heard a good reason to play along, yet.”

Mireille grinned at Kirika. “I really like her,” she murmured before she turned to Hitomi. “We are looking for information on someone who may be involved in human trafficking.”

Nami whistled, “We definitely will want to be there as backup, if you do this.”

Hitomi looked at Mireille, who looked evenly back at her. Kirika looked down at her cup. “So, if we have a nice weekend beforehand, I’ll look more convincing?” she asked with some venom.

Mireille reached across the table to touch her hand. “If I just needed a convincing slave, I could find someone with experience any time, with them none the wiser.”

Hitomi nodded.

“You can think on your feet, and you might find something you want to know, so I thought it would be win-win.” Kirika put in, still looking down at her cup.

“And Kirika here is crushing badly on you, so we wanted to have a reason to get to know you better.” Mireille added. Kirika blushed.


	5. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sure, putting a virgin into the role of sex slave to prepare for a heist will go off without a hitch, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could rewrite this another few times, but as the rest of the story wants to be written, so ...
> 
> BDSM paraphernalia are mentioned in this chapter, but we are not in explicit territory.

They had decided to show Hitomi what her role at the club would be. So now, she waited for the other two women in a room that could only be described as a dungeon room. Hitomi looked around with a mixture of curiosity and unease. There was a row of whips, with different length, breadths and number of tails, ropes in different colors and textures, about ten strap-ons in bright colors and slight variations in form. She couldn’t quite place the things next to them. Carefully, she turned one of them over in her hands, feeling its steel tip, pear-shaped body and rounded end.

Suddenly, Mireille said with an amused voice from behind her, “That is a butt plug.”

Hitomi startled and blushed. Slowly, to give the blush time to fade, she put the thing back into its rack and turned around. And felt her jaw drop.

Mireille was wearing a black leather catsuit that accented her breasts without really giving anything away, metal spikes and studs accenting her hips and collarbone. The high-heeled boots made her legs seem to go on and on and on. The muscular bare upper arms drew Hitomi’s eyes, giving way to long-sleeved red gloves. As her gaze traveled up to the face hidden by a patterned black leather mask and a rather bulky police hat, Hitomi gulped.

And then Mireille had the cheek to cock her head and asks, “Do you like what you see?”

Hitomi couldn’t help the blush and growled. “You must be kidding me.”

Mireille snapped her fingers and pointed to the ground. Hitomi just raised an eyebrow. Mireille laughed. “I thought you wouldn’t.”

Hitomi walked up to her, trying to figure out her reactions. The outfit looked sexy, somehow, but though it breathed danger, she wasn’t intimidated. But she was nervous. She didn’t really trust Mireille just yet, so walking and concentrating on every detail of the outfit seemed like a good option.

With a wry smile Mireille watched her. She took a long leather whip out of the rack and snapped in in the air.

“Impressive,” Hitomi said, leaning on the wall next to the door, trying to look unimpressed. “So, I suppose nobody will try to mess with me, when you look so dangerous?” She had only vague ideas about how etiquette in sex clubs worked, and if trafficking was possible, looking dangerous seemed like a good idea.

“That’s part of the idea,” the blonde conceded. Her eyes, more blue than grey at the moment, twinkled. She turned the handle of the whip to expose a long knife. And then she let go of something, not exactly relaxing but … changing her stance?

Hitomi couldn’t put a finger on it but still felt herself relax. Like she’d just had a fight that ended in a draw. _“Huh, I wonder if this was a different kind of test?”_

Mireille started to explain the role she herself was going to play Sunday night.

The door opened and in walked … someone. The black latex mask only left eyes and mouth visible. A leather harness pushed up small breasts, ending with a seamless leather panty that was somehow part of the harness. A broad red leather collar with several rings on different sides held a chain in the front ring. The chain went to the black leather wrist cuffs. Without a word, the person went up to Mireille and dropped to her knees in a fluid, practiced motion. Mireille at once gathered that dangerous energy around herself again and, almost absentmindedly, patted their head.

Hitomi stiffened and stared. She needed a moment to recognize Kirika in that outfit. She felt her heart ache in a complicated way, more so when she saw the scars on Kirika’s body. _“She is right. Anyone who sees her like that will be able to recognize her.”_ This is the clearest thought. The rest is a wild mixture of emotions, a wild _Noooo!_ most prominent. Hitomi was still trying to gather her wits, when Kirika stood, somehow releasing the chain in the process, took off her mask and walked up to her.

“Hey,” she said, looking deep into Hitomi’s brown eyes. She lifted a hand and caressed Hitomi’s cheek with the back of a single finger. “Breath.”

Hitomi exhaled. Took in a deep breath. A full body shudder went through her.

“What is it?” Kirika asked, still looking into her eyes, her palm on Hitomi’s cheek.

Hitomi looked back at her, opened her mouth, closed it again and shrugged. When Kirika patiently waited for her answer, she said at last. “It somehow hurts to see you like that.” Her eyes fell. Without thinking, she raised a hand to touch the overlaying scars on Kirika’s left abdomen, raised and terrifying.

“Just that?” Kirika asked, putting her right hand on Hitomi’s.

“No, that just adds another layer of …” Hitomi searched for words but failed.

“So that’s a no to helping on Sunday?” Mireille put in.

Kirika sent her an angry look.

“I don’t know?” Hitomi shook her head. She looked at Kirika, at Mireille, back at Kirika.

When Mireille opened her mouth, Kirika shook her head. “Will you give us a minute?” She dragged Hitomi out of the room, into the guest room next door.

They sat quietly for several minutes, Kirika’s arms around Hitomi. “Seeing you kneeling like that, it really makes my skin crawl,” Hitomi said at last. “ **You** shouldn’t be so …” she trails off.

“Mireille and I, we switch,” the younger woman offered.

Hitomi nodded. She tried to imagine Mireille kneeling. Hm. That wasn’t so bad. The ghost of a smile appeared on her face.

“So, its just me kneeling?” Kirika had been watching her.

Hitomi made a face. “It’s a combination, I suppose.” She cannot untangle all the layers of impressions and emotions. “Something like … you giving up?” she questioned.

Kirika hugged her. “The days where I mean all of it are few and far between.” With a finger, she moved Hitomi’s bangs out of her face. “Today, it’s just … showing off.” She paused. “I don’t even know …,” she paused again, her face thoughtful. “It’s not good practice to put you into a situation like this, given your lack of experience,” she continued at last.

Hitomi wondered what else she was thinking about. Still, she offered a small smile. “I thought that was the professional part, learning and playing a role is something I usually do well.” She threw her hands up in frustration. With a sigh, she turned to study Kirika. Slowly, she touched the collar. The front ring was missing, she noticed, and poked a finger at the hole.

Kirika grinned. “In this outfit, every restraint has a quick-release,” she explained. “There are small electromagnets that I can trigger to free myself.”

Hitomi nodded slowly. She let her fingers trail down the harness, trying to figure out what else set her off. Something about the way it presented the breasts? Definitely the way it showed off the scars. The abdominal scars spoke of at least two very near misses, she couldn’t even start to count the rest. Without thinking, she covered the largest scar with her hand.

Kirika slowly entwined their fingers. “These scars are part of our history, Mireille’s and mine,” she said. “The times she should have let me die, but didn’t.”

“I’m glad she didn’t,” Hitomi murmured after a pause to search for better words, not finding any. And she leaned into Kirika some more, feeling her alive and breathing body, relaxing into the contact.

After three minutes of silent closeness, Hitomi sighed. “The mask and the way the harness shows your body are the worst triggers. Could you put on a T and show me what I’m supposed to do without wearing the mask?” Hitomi tried to get back to her professional persona.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewatched Noir writing this and once again was caught up in the intensity of it (it still lives on youtube at the moment). In contrast to that, Cat's eye (that seems to live on crunchyroll and anime on demand) is relaxing.
> 
> I'm glad Noir mostly left out the blood when people were hurt/killed. I think the death count for the last 2 episodes alone was higher than a year of DC. 
> 
> Though it comes off an strange in the last episode, especially when Kirika takes the hit for Mireille and you just have a small black hole in her tunic, slightly below where she was shot in an earlier episode.


	6. Saturday morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday morning has Hitomi thinking...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not beta'd. Word catches more typos, but ... Give me a shout if you find something.

Saturday morning, Hitomi walked into the empty open space kitchen. She sat down on an easy chair in front of the large windows. And just sat and waited for her mind to clear. The practice session for their exploratory mission tomorrow had been exhausting. She never before noticed how she never quite accepted authority even if she seldom challenged it openly – outside of a heist that is. Remembering to keep her eyes on the floor, not talk back to or question what “the mistress” said – even in her mind that had air quotes – took an enormous amount of concentration. She still felt somehow sore, but rather in her mind than her body. As nice as having Mireille caress her hair, her face or even more sensitive parts of her body was, she would NEVER do this outside of work. The question was, was she willing to go ahead with the mission. Hitomi sighted and tapped her earpiece.

“Good morning, Hitomi,” Nami’s wide awake voice greeted her. “Have you enjoyed the night with your new friends?”

Hitomi rolled her eyes but relaxed more into her chair. “Parts of it?”

“Hm?” her sister seemed astonished. A cup clacked in the background, as if she was pouring coffee.

“They showed me what role I’d need to play tomorrow.” Hitomi brushed her hair back behind her right ear. She tried to sound professional. “Being a slave is exhausting,” she managed to keep her tone dry, only slightly letting her frustration leak. “And no, they didn’t ask for anything really sexual, just …,” she paused, hating to utter the word “obeying.” She ground her teeth.

Nami laughed. She obviously tried to keep it in, but couldn’t help herself.

Hitomi fumed, got up from the chair and started to pace. “It’s not funny!”

“Sorry,” Nami bared managed to speak. Taking an audible breath, she calmed down. “The idea of you being happy with that role is just so, so, … absurd.” Hitomi heard her gulp down the coffee.

“I hate you,” Hitomi murmured.

“Ok, how bad is it?” Nami asked, sounding more serious.

“It takes every ounce of concentration, even here, with nothing to distract me.” Hitomi paced the length of the room, playing with a strand of hair. “I don’t know if I can keep from staring at everything, everyone, or …,“ her voice petered out.

“…or freak out?” her sister asked in a quiet voice.

Nami just knew her too well. “I already did, when Kirika showed up in a latex mask.” She sighted.

Nami was quite for a moment. Hitomi reached the back wall, turned around and started pacing in the direction of the window. She absentmindedly noticed a small shrine tucked away in the corner of the room. Three European faces on high-quality photos, a well-used incense bowl, sakura blossoms.

She had nearly reached the window again when Nami spoke at last. “If you imagine Inspector Asaya in that outfit, what would your reaction be?”

Hitomi stopped short. Then she burst out laughing. “She’d be even worse in that role than I.” Still sputtering, she wondered why Nami had come up with that absurd idea.

“So, it does only freak you out with people you care about?”

_“Hmmm.”_ Hitomi went through different people in her mind: “ _Toshi?”_ She shuddered. “ _The boss?”_ She shrugged. _“Nami?”_ Huh, that shiver was not wanting to know what her sister liked in bed. Strangely, it felt like Nami would have fun with it. “ _STOP RIGHT HERE,”_ she ordered herself. “Probably.” She leaned into the window.

* * *

The sound of a firelighter brought Hitomi out of the reverie she had sunk into after Nami rang off. Glancing in the direction of the sound, she saw Mireille at the small shrine, slowly waving an incense stick to make sure it’s lighted properly. Then, the French woman put it into the bowl and brought her hands together in a prayer position. When she stayed that way for longer than two breaths, Hitomi looked away. She wondered, why Mireille was praying so intently.

“Good morning,” Mireille greeted her after what seemed like forever, but probably was less the five minutes. “How are you feeling today?” She walked over to the coffee maker and started measuring ground coffee and water.

“Do you think I can do it?” Hitomi asked instead of answering.

Mireille made an indistinct sound, eyes concentrated on the coffee maker. “It wasn’t our best idea to mix fun and work like this. Showing you the role you’d need to play,” she paused, “its way off from where I’d want to start something with you.”

Hitomi turned in her chair to look at the French women, but only got to see Mireille’s backside. Thought that was nice to look at, Hitomi wanted to see her face, her expression. “It didn’t look like that,” she remarked.

The coffee maker sputtered and puffed out some steam. Mireille filled two mugs, grabbed milk and sugar and walked over to Hitomi. She put the coffee, milk and sugar on the window sill and sat down without a word. Gesturing to Hitomi to help herself, she took her own cup and stared at its contents.

Hitomi opened her mouth, closed it again, and then reached over, put some milk into her mug and sat back, cradling the mug. She turned slightly to the right to better look at Mireille, waiting.

At last, Mireille looked up at Hitomi. “Kirika had said you were really inexperienced, and I didn’t quite believe her.” The French woman let her left index finger circle the mug’s rim. “I somehow thought this meant you had no practical experience with BDSM.”

Hitomi chuckled. “And you got a full-blown virgin instead.” The smile left her, “and she had a freak out, too.”

The blue eyes studied her. “Actually, given that your ‘freak out’ was not about the scenario as such but about Kirika in that role …” A pause.

Hitomi felt caught in those eyes, evaluated, but, unexpectedly, not found lacking.

“It is healing, the way you see her,” here an unexpectedly soft smile crossed Mireille’s lips. Then her eyes darted to the shrine.

Hitomi wondered about the connection between the shrine and Kirika. The photos had so obviously been Mireille’s relatives; mother, father, ... little brother probably.

Before she could think of something to say, Mireille continued. “Even if you, in theory, had known about the stuff, dumping you in the middle of it was a dumb move. And would have been a big fail in the consent-department, if it hadn’t been for work. I apologize.”

Hitomi took her time to take a sip of coffee to digest this. “Consent?” she asked at last, looking back into those searching blue eyes.

“Consent, as in ‘I really like the idea of doing XYZ with you both’, while knowing a lot about what XYZ was supposed to be.” Mireille gave a wry smile, still circling her cup with a finger. When the blonde looked down and noticed, she put her left hand on her tight.

“Because it was for work, a general ‘Show me so I know if I can do it‘ was enough?” Hitomi questioned.

Mireille sighted. “If all we did was work together, that would have been enough.” She shook her head. “But as we both have …,” she paused.

“Designs on my virginity?” Hitomi supplied in a mocking tone, but her eyes twinkled and she relaxed back into the chair.

The blonde chortled. “Yes, designs on your virginity,” her voice dropped half an octave and Hitomi shuddered.

Hiding her blush behind the coffee mug, Hitomi watched as Mireille put her coffee aside and moved closer. But instead of reaching over to caress her in some way, the blonde visibly stopped herself and just brushed her elbow against Hitomi’s.

“Work first, fun later, ok?” she asked.

Hitomi nodded.

“Do I think you can play the role tomorrow?” Mireille waited until Hitomi nodded for her to continue. “If you want to, you’ll manage. And if you don’t want to, please just say so.”

Hitomi nodded. She thought about her talk with Nami. About the softness Mireille was showing her just now, how she started to relax more around her. “I will need at least another two hours of practice.” She frowned. “It is rather exhausting, remembering to obey.”

The blonde nodded in response. “I can imagine, it’s not what you’d naturally do.” A smile tugged at her lips. “What can I do to make it easier on you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't planned at all, but suddenly I felt like it should be addressed.


End file.
